THE EMOTION'S 



253 



connect with the cortex of 

 the brain, we become aware, 

 or conscious, of peculiar feel- 

 ings, or sensations (see Chap- 

 ter XXIII). Some of these 

 we recognize as hot, sweet, 

 green, buzz, and so on. But 

 most of the stimuli and re- 

 actions of the autonomic sys- 

 tem are entirely unconscious. 

 We are not aware of a slight 

 change in the chemical con- 

 dition of the blood, such as 

 an increase in the amount of 

 carbon dioxid (see page 173). 

 We are ordinarily not aware 

 of the action of the liver 

 and the kidneys, of the stom- 

 ach and the small intestine. 

 Sometimes, however, we do 

 become aware of internal 

 events, and usually in an un- 

 pleasant way. After a person 

 has gone without food for a 

 long time, he may have pangs 

 of hunger, which are con- 

 nected with violent contrac- 

 tions of the stomach. When 

 the liver is out of order, one 

 may feel grouchy, irritable, 

 or pessimistic. 



The feelings that we have 

 when disturbances of the 

 autonomic system come to 

 consciousness are called emo- 

 tions. They differ from sen- 



Inlesline 



Fig. 120. The autonomic nervous 

 system 



In front of each vertebra is a pair of gan- 

 glia, gg, which are connected ( i ) with each 

 other: (2) with the spinal nerves, S.V; and 

 (3) with the organs of digestion, circula- 

 tion, elimination and leproduction, and the 

 glands. The middle portion of this system, 

 regulating the organs in the thoracic and 

 lumbar regions, is sometimes called Xht sym- 

 pathetic nervous system. Through these 

 nerves the unconscious and involuntary proc- 

 esses are connected with the voluntary and 

 conscious ones 



